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Suffer Little Children
But Jesus said, suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14 Suffer Little Children is the first book of the series written by Luke Heath. Blurb Eleven-year-old Holly Grisham is abducted on her way home from school, sparking an investigation by the police. The following Monday, she is found in Hester Place Reserve, alive but in a coma. Detailed Summary Eleven-year-old Holly Grisham is abducted on her way home from school on a Friday afternoon, sparking an investigation by the police. The following Monday, she is found in Hester Place Reserve, alive but in a coma. Initially, her father is pursued as a suspect; however, less than a week later, Joanna Yorke goes missing while at Hoyts Southlands – and because Ian Grisham is being interviewed by the police at the time, he is ruled out as a suspect. Although they were initially considered to be two separate cases because of the distance from where Holly went missing, there are too many similarities in the victimology, and the investigations are linked. The detectives go back to the beginning, and look at how the killer might have crossed paths with both victims. They interview Devin Rhodes, who has a part time job at Southlands Woolworths, and lives in a house on the route they believe Holly must have taken to get to her father’s house. However, part way through the interview it becomes apparent that Rhodes doesn’t have the intellectual ability to perpetrate these two crimes in the organised fashion it appears has been used. So the team resorts to a public appeal for information, hoping that someone might have seen either Holly or Joanna before they were taken. Timeline * Friday 6th February 2015 (approx. 1600) – Massey abducts Holly Grisham after school, and takes her to his house in Parkwood, where he spends the next two days raping her and taking pornographic images of her. * Monday 9th February (0730) – Arthur Bailey finds Holly in Hester Place Reserve. * Tuesday 10th February (1930) – the media documents a vigil being held at Princess Margaret Hospital for Holly. * Wednesday 11th February – Holly dies in hospital. * Thursday 12th February – John conducts the post mortem, cataloguing Holly’s injuries. Meanwhile, detectives interview Ian Grisham again. * Saturday 14th February (afternoon) – Joanna Yorke is taken from Hoyts Southlands. * Wednesday 18th February – Joanna’s body is found in Bicentennial Adenia Park. * Thursday 19th February – John conducts the post mortem on Joanna and sees the similarities in the modus operandi and the injuries caused. * Thursday 19th February (evening) – After the connection between the two cases is made, the detectives hold a press conference. * Friday 20th February (morning) – Agents from the Australian Federal Police inform Rick that they have found pornographic images of Holly. Rick also discovers images of Joanna. * Thursday 26th February (~1900) – Niamh O’Hara goes missing while walking home from the local shops. * Niamh’s body is found, in a different part of Bicentennial Adenia Park. * 15th March – Aimee Isaacs is taken while playing in her front yard. * April – Faith Olsen is taken on her way to a church youth group. * Poppy Van den Berg is taken from a local park. Characters Jane Ashton | Arthur Bailey | Claire Bennett | Kenzie Bloom | Neil Bowman | Georgia Bracewell | Nate Brajkovich | Melinda Clausen | Andrea Dobbs | Lawrence Earnshaw | Riley Evans | Alison Glover | Holly Grisham | Ian Grisham | Robyn Grisham | Erin Hensman | Peter Houston | Simon Howells | Aimee Isaacs | Eamon King | Preston Knight | John Lacy | Rob Lloyd | Michael McGowan | Robert Massey | Rochelle Neaves | Niamh O'Hara | Faith Olsen | Harrison Randall | Carolyn Reeves | Devin Rhodes | Diana Rhodes | Andre Van den Berg | Cara Van den Berg | Michael Van den Berg | Poppy Van den Berg | Joanna Yorke | Terry Young Memorable Lines * ‘We need to dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T’ with this one. I don’t want it to be a repeat of the Dante Arthurs case.’ Dante Arthurs was convicted of the 2006 murder of Sofia Rodriguez-Urrutia-Shu. * 'We believe members of this ring may even be connected to those picked up in Project Spade.' Project Spade was an international investigation into child pornography that resulted in almost 350 arrests in Australia alone.'' * ''‘It’s times like this I wish we had never got rid of capital punishment. Prison is too good for this guy.’ Capital punishment in Australia was abolished in 1985. Exceptional Character Moments Points of Interest * Stranger abductions represent 0.5% of cases, but are more likely to be fatal. * The title is taken from the New Testament, Matthew's Gospel, 19:14. * The unspecified cricket match playing on the radio in Rick Brady's office is the second match of the 2015 ICC World Cup, played between Australia and England. * Although not specified, the movie Joanna Yorke and family are watching is Paper Planes. * Robert Massey is the first person in Western Australia to be given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. * John Lacy saying he has worked with Claire Bennett before is a nod to the fact that David Franklin, who provided the inspiration for the physical description of Lacy, and Tammy MacIntosh, who provided the inspiration for Claire Bennett, worked together on Farscape.